Enewsletter

Notes
from Vegan Outreach

Elaine Vigneault sends this pic from the Vegas Warped Tour stop: “He said he agreed with the front cover quote, and he’s going to try to go vegetarian!”

Warped
Tour Leafleters for the Animals

Amazingly
dedicated activists are reaching thousands and
thousands of young people all along the
Warped Tour. Jon Camp sends this report from
Scranton, where 8,800 attendees were handed
VO’s special Warped Tour booklet:

“Big night in Scranton!
It was nice to have Rachel Atcheson and Will
Peji supplementing the traveling wolf pack of
Ben Sylvester, Nathan Shin, Ali Pester, and
me. Laura Hart and Audrey Caplan drove three
hours (each way!) to help us. They were outstanding
and played such an instrumental role in the
success of our night. And they even left us
with homemade chocolate chip cookies. What a
family!

“Brian Zawacki is in Rosedale, a band
that plays each day on the tour. He and Ben
have become friends on this tour, and he joined
us for leafleting last night! Brian and one
of his bandmates have been thumbing through
VO’s booklet throughout the tour, and it’s left
a lasting impression on them. Brian plans to
be fully vegan by the end of the summer.

“After the Scranton date, I drove us 5
hours to Pittsburgh, and we got to sleep around
4 am. As always, thanks to all the donors who
make this vital work possible. We see the difference
this is making each night, and we’re really
grateful.”

Below are some of the amazing activists who reached 11,000 concertgoers at the Columbia, MD Warped Tour stop!

Notes
from Our Members

I
received your booklet at the Warped
Tour in Baltimore. It has changed my life for
the better – I am now vegan forever!—BV, 7/20/13

Good
take rate at the Pitbull / Ke$ha
concert; lots of people were genuinely interested
in VO’s booklet. A worthwhile event that reached
a lot of underexposed suburban kids.—Darina Bockman, 6/9/13

It
begins! Victoria, Ben, Jeremy,
Sacha, and I put in long hours, handing booklets
to 6,150 young people at the Warped Tour’s opening
day. The Seattle crowd was pretty excited to see Oli
Sykes on the cover of VO’s Warped Tour booklet.
Kassy, Jonathan, Beau, Radish, and Michelle
joined the five of us for the first date of the Pomona stop. Of the 9,000 people who attended today,
we reached 8,000. So awesome!—Ethan Dussault (below, leafleting the Pomona stop), 6/20/13

Big
crowd at Hip-Hop night – very
receptive. One man told me he read the booklet
last time and it made him not want to eat meat.
One young woman came up to me a while after
I handed her a booklet and said that reading
it made her want to cry.

Perfect demographic
at Bunbury Music Festival! Lots of young people,
very receptive. I ran out of booklets before
the concert was over.—Jane Smiley, 7/13/13

John,
Sandi, Alex, and I heard from
many vegetarians and vegans while leafleting
the FUN concert. One guy came back and told
me he received a VO booklet five years ago and
he has been veg ever since!!—Rachel Shippee, 7/10/13

After
the Warped Tour leafleters left
my house, Angelica, Lizbeth, and I decided to
leaflet the First Friday crowd. Met a number
of very interested people, and met teens who
said, “Oh, I got this at Warped Tour. Can
I have one for my friend?”—Elaine Vigneault, 7/5/13

At
Long Island University, Post,
two separate students came back to tell me my
timing was perfect, because they were each writing
a paper about eating meat. They each got a Guide.
Also had an extended conversation with a group
of five students; at the end, four of them wanted
a Guide!—Karen James, 4/22/13

Alex
and I met many vegetarians and
vegans at the University of Toronto, where we
each handed a booklet to 500 students, and gave
out 10 Guides. One student wants to
leaflet in the future.—John Sakars, 4/22/13

Great
Earth Day leafleting at Bergen
Community College – one girl said she would
go vegetarian and another guy promised to try
it for a week.—Constance Li, 4/22/13

On
their last day of classes at James Madison University, 2,500
students were handed a VO booklet about factory
farm cruelty. The
response was amazing – many constructive conversations
about factory farms and quashing of myths associated
with vegetarian and vegan health. Many students
told us that they wanted to go vegetarian, and
a couple students [including Erica, right] said they went vegetarian
immediately after reading the booklet. It was
an inspirational way to end the semester!—Aaron Ross and Kate St. John,
4/23/13

Scout
and I were joined by Jenell, David,
and Anonymous at Georgia State, where we reached
nearly 3,000 students, and handed out nearly
100 Guides! Solid conversations, too.
No doubt many of these students will be making
changes.
Rob cranked out serious
numbers in a short time at North Carolina State
and was told, “Best booklet I got this
semester.” I talked to a woman who now
wants to go vegan.

My mom joined me to
table at Wake Forest’s Earth Day, next to the
ARAMARK table, where they were promoting vegetarian
and vegan dining options. We talked with vegetarians,
vegans, and those wanting to go down that road,
as well as many who vowed to slash their animal
product consumption.—Dawn Ratcliffe, 4/22/13

Great
take rate – about 70% – at the
University of Michigan. Was awesome to leaflet
with Kate [Brindle, below]; we had our leafleting strategy down
cold. Afterward, went to Jazzy Veggie, an all-vegan
restaurant near campus, and the server told
me, “It’s been a good day!” Hope our
work played a role in that.
Kate and I were back
there today – over the two days, we handed
a booklet to more than 4,700 students. One student
said, “I got one of these yesterday and
I’m just so happy you’re out here. It’s something
that people really need to see.” She was
definitely stoked on getting a Guide!
Another student told
me he got one yesterday, read through it and
found it very informative; was happy to get
a Guide. Met Ernest [right] – an awesome older
man who said he read through the booklet and
was in shock. “I’m definitely going to
eat less meat. I can’t believe the way we treat
chickens just in the name of profit!” He
was definitely enlightened on this day.
Kate met a vegan duo
who were really excited to get Guides,
and a professor told her she’s really happy
we were out there. A student handing out free
condoms told me Even If You Like Meat made
her want to become vegan! Met a vegan named
Spizzy who said he’s been vegan since June because
of the cruelty in factory farming. He said it’s
more difficult when he goes back home. He shook
my hand when we parted. I think it was a really
good thing that he saw us out there speaking
up for the animals.—John Oberg, 4/23/13

I
leafleted in front of the VO table at
Montgomery College’s Earth Day. It was crazy
how many individuals mentioned being veg or
vegan, and how they ran the gamut in terms of
appearance, ethnic background, age. We’re becoming
more diverse and mainstream, and we’re gaining
ground!—Jon Camp, 4/23/13

Rachel
and I had great interactions at
Bowling Green State. Amerea [left] wants to go vegan,
and her friend’s sister also wants to give it
a go. Amerea then asked for booklets to distribute,
and she will leaflet in the future! We met Laura [below, right]
– she was vegan for a bit but for whatever
reason went back to eating meat. She said after
reading VO’s booklet, there is no way she will
eat meat again. Rachel met Staci [below, left], who wants
to go vegan and educate her family, too. We
also met numerous veg folk, and others who want
to leaflet next time someone comes to campus.
What a change on campus
we’ve helped to create since I was here in
’08, when people didn’t know what “vegan”
meant and were far less receptive to the message.—Vic Sjodin, 4/23/13

Vegan
Outreach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
dedicated to reducing the suffering of
farmed animals by promoting informed,
ethical eating.